Perceptions of the operating room educational setting by surgical residents in emergency department at Saudi Arabia 2024

Abstract

Background: Operating room experiences are especially important for surgical residents' learning, and the term "environment" refers to the "climate" that affects each aspect of learning in an educational setting. Therefore,

the aims of the study:To assess surgical residents' perceptions about the educational environment in the operating room and related elements at the emergency department of Al Noor Hospital in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2024 among surgical residents to assess their perceptions of the operating room educational environment using the OREEM questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (mean, median, SD) were used to summarize demographic data and OREEM scores. The student t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) testing followed by posthoc tests were used for comparison of quantitative data, with p-values< 0.05 considered significant.

Results:79.8% of the participants were male and 20.2%were female with a mean age of 28 years. The overall mean score was 69% with subscale scores for teaching and training at 47.9/65.0 (73.7%), learning opportunities at 34.5/55.0 (62.7%), the atmosphere at 28.9/40.00 (72.4%) and workload/supervision/ support at 27.5/40.0 (68.7%). Male and female residents differed significantly in perceptions of “atmosphere” (t₁₂₇ = 3.35, p < 0.001) and in junior versus senior residents' perceptions of the “learning opportunities” and “atmosphere” at p-values of 0.023 and 0.028 respectively. However, age, marital status, and specific surgical training programs did not have a significant effect on the scores.

Conclusion: Overall, residents had positive perceptions of their training and teaching, learning opportunities, the atmosphere in the operation theatre, and the supervision they received in the operation theatre. The operating room's “teaching and training” component received the highest score, while the operating room's “learning opportunities” component received the lowest. This indicates the importance of establishing a positive learning environment with sufficient “hands-on” experience, especially during emergencies. In addition, preoperative planning, case discussions, and feedback after the surgery should be routine.